Friday, May 30, 2014

Given that I lived for several years in France I naturally
consider myself an expert on French food. Of course, I have not been back to
visit in quite some time, but still, I believe that, whatever you say about
France, the food is outstanding.

In a culture that has long defined itself on the excellence
of its cuisine, McDonalds set off something of a stir in 1999. Then a French
farmer name Jose Bove was thrown in jail for trashing a McDonalds.

Bove was an anti-globalization activist and was defending
the honor of French culture against the Anglo invader.

That was yesterday. Today, the world has changed.

By now, France has been blanketed with McDonalds. One
knows that the French restaurants serve McBaguettes and one suspects that the hamburgers
taste better in Lyon than they do in my neighborhood, but still, given the
choice, the French like their Big Macs.

Recently, in the town of Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, near Lille,
local bureaucrats stopped construction on a new McDonalds because the
restaurant did not comply with regulations.

(Even if the burgers are not the same the world over, the
bureaucrats are.)

Surprisingly, perhaps, the local citizens were outraged… at
the bureaucrats. 4,000 signed up on a Facebook page to protest. They took to
the streets to oppose the job-killing bureaucrats.

3 comments:

Don't forget that the French are cheap. They can cook pretty well at home, and they even learn to do so, but when it comes to going out, a great many are just plain cheap. They're the same when they come visit here in USA and try to be as cheap as possible on their vacations.

It is possible that they have a poor economy, but then so do many nations. Underneath it all, they're just plain cheap.

Besides, isn't bread and cheese classic French? And that's a big part of every big MAC!

I spent some time in France but also a long time in Germany, Austria and Finland. The French are tough customers!!!

My own French never got off the ground but I can sing, "Ah, mesdames, voila de bon frommage, celui qui la fait il est de son village..." That cute old kids' song got me invited to some free meals with CHEESE!